Editing Back to the Future (section)

===Parental relationships and fate===
The main theme of ''Back to the Future'' concerns taking control and personal responsibility over one's destiny: A situation can be changed even if it seems otherwise impossible to overcome.<ref name="BOMGaleInterview" /> Thompson said the film represents how one moment can have a significant and lasting impact on a person's life.<ref name="TheGuardianHowWeMade" /><ref name="AVClubThompson" /> Gale believed Doc provided the perfect summary of the series' running theme, when in ''[[Back to the Future Part&nbsp;III]]'' he said: "Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one."<ref name="BOMGaleInterview" />

At the start of the film, Marty is rejected at Battle of the Bands and admits he fears his ambitions will remain unrealized. He worries he will end up like his parents and sees direct evidence in 1955 of George, also afraid of rejection, and being unable to approach Lorraine; his fears risk Marty's future.<ref name="DOG88things" /><ref name="UproxxAnalysis" /> Marty sets about manipulating the past to ensure his survival without concern for what impact his presence in 1955 is having on others. On his return to 1985, he is rewarded with wealthier parents and a nicer car, but he has simultaneously damaged Biff's future, reducing him to a valet for the McFlys.<ref name="AVClubGlover" /><ref name="LATimesHoldUp" /> Glover criticized the morality of the film's ending, believing Marty's reward should be happy parents in love with each other, and considered it a result of the film serving corporate interests, promoting the accumulation of wealth and purchasing material objects.<ref name="AVClubGlover" /> In 2015, Zemeckis said the ending was perfect for its time but would be different if he made it now, although Gale disagreed and said he did not apologize for the scene. American audiences generally had no issue with this ending, but it was criticized by some international audiences.{{sfn|Gaines|2015|p=124}}

Despite rejection by film studios for not being raunchy enough,<ref name="EsquireDidntGetMade" /> ''Back to the Future'' alludes to sexual assault, racism, and the [[Oedipus complex]]{{snd}}a psychiatric theory suggesting a child holds an unconscious sexual desire for their opposite-sexed parent, as in the relationship between Marty and his future mother Lorraine in 1955.<ref name="NYTimes1985PostMortemCanby" /><ref name="LATimesHoldUp" /> The relationships between parents and children are the basis of many elements of the film. Thompson believed the film had remained relevant to new generations because of its core idea that Marty's and the viewer's parents were once children and had the same dreams and ambitions they do.<ref name="TheGuardianHowWeMade" /><ref name="CNNGaleInterview" /><ref name="AVClubThompson" />